IP is the place for boisterous political discussion, but please remember, the Rules still apply, especially with regards to Personal Attacks. These and other inappropriate posts will be removed without notification.

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IP is the place for boisterous political discussion, but please remember, the Rules still apply, especially with regards to Personal Attacks. These and other inappropriate posts will be removed without notification.

Winston Smith wrote:159 nations have signed the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty banning the use of anti-personnel landmines because they're indiscriminate killers of men, women and children long after they've been planted out of sight beneath the earth. 37 nations have refused to sign the ban, Syria among them. Guess who else is in that rogues gallery?

Yep, you guessed it.

Not very decent company, one would have to admit.I wonder why the Marshall Islands never signed?

Marshall Islands has signed but not yet ratified. Thanks to Wikileaks we know why:

The Republic of the Marshall Islands signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997. The Marshall Islands is one of the last two signatories that have still not ratified the Mine Ban Treaty.

The Marshall Islands re-engaged in the Mine Ban Treaty process in 2008, but did not attend any meetings held in 2009–2010 or the first half of 2011. In November 2008, a representative of the Marshall Islands informed States Parties that the government strongly supported the goals and objectives of the Mine Ban Treaty, but cited its relationship with the United States (US) and the burden of treaty participation on small states as principal reasons for not ratifying.

A US Department of State cable made public by Wikileaks in August 2011 provides “talking points” for US officials to respond to a “request” from the Marshall Islands for clarification on the US position on Mine Ban Treaty ratification by the Marshall Islands.

According to the September 2009 cable from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, US officials met with representatives from the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau on 2 December 1997, two days before the Marshall Islands signed the Mine Ban Treaty. In the meeting, the US said that “adherence to the Convention is up to each state based on its assessment of its own national interest,” but emphasized that “the U.S. would not adhere to the Ottawa Convention and that adherence by the other three states could conflict with defense provisions of the respective bilateral Compacts of Free Association.”

In the cable, the US describes “the defense provisions” of the compacts as “unique, especially the U.S. commitment to defending the Republic of the Marshall Islands as if it were part of the United States.” The US cites three sections of its Compact of Free Association with the Marshall Islands that it believes would be contradicted by the Marshall Islands’ ratification and adherence to the Mine Ban Treaty. The cable also states that ratification “would be problematic if the United States needed to store anti-personnel landmines” at sites in the Marshall Islands. Finally, the US warns that ratification “also affects the ability of citizens of RMI to serve in the U.S. armed forces under Compact section 341.”

"Freedom of Information. Three harmless words. I look at those words as I write them, and feel like shaking my head till it drops off my shoulders. You idiot. You naive, foolish, irresponsible nincompoop. There is really no description of stupidity, no matter how vivid, that is adequate. I quake at the imbecility of it."- Tony Blair describing his initial support for Britain's Freedom of Information Act

As it is, we seem to regard it as a positive objection to a reasoner that he has taken one side or the other. We regard it (in other words) as a positive objection to a reasoner that he has contrived to reach the object of his reasoning. We call a man a bigot or a slave of dogma because he is a thinker who has thought thoroughly and to a definite end.

Deuce Dropper wrote:Simply put, Russia and China support killing of innocent people. No shock there really with their stats over the last 100 years, puts other countries like Germany and the US to shame.

Utter twoddle! The U.S. won't have it's reputation for killing innocent people shot down by the weak PRC. No! No! No! That won't do at all! And Germany?! You don't think they did enough damage within the last hundred years?

Deuce Dropper wrote:Simply put, Russia and China support killing of innocent people. No shock there really with their stats over the last 100 years, puts other countries like Germany and the US to shame.

Utter twoddle! The U.S. won't have it's reputation for killing innocent people shot down by the weak PRC. No! No! No! That won't do at all! And Germany?! You don't think they did enough damage within the last hundred years?

WTF?

Drunk posting at such an early hour?...tsk tsk tsk...although it is Sunday.....?

"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --- "Caesar and Cleopatra"...G.B. Shaw-----Kid Rock - Born Free-----"The big sisters are usually hot, but the dads smell of alcohol and tobacco....and have dirty feet with dead toe nails in blue slippers. "...Bob_Honest on "The Culture"------Play stupid games, win stupid prizes------Isaiah 40:31

As it is, we seem to regard it as a positive objection to a reasoner that he has taken one side or the other. We regard it (in other words) as a positive objection to a reasoner that he has contrived to reach the object of his reasoning. We call a man a bigot or a slave of dogma because he is a thinker who has thought thoroughly and to a definite end.

Simple way to sort this out. The UN begs the Israelis to go in and fuck up the Syrian regime good and proper.

This time I would hope the UN does not piss its pants when Israel is within 16km of Damascas, like last time. If they let the Israelis finish the job properly last time there would be no crisis now.

Jesus Quintana: Let me tell you something, pendejo. You pull any of your crazy shit with us, you flash a piece out on the lanes, I'll take it away from you, stick it up your ass and pull the fucking trigger 'til it goes "click."The Dude: Jesus.Jesus Quintana: You said it, man. Nobody fucks with the Jesus.

Mr.Lahey: The shitabyss!Randy: Mr. Lahey, not another night of the shitabyss, please?!Mr.Lahey: Ah, fuck it.

If you talk to god, you're religious. If god talks to you, you're psychotic.Gregory House

And yes, China and Russia do get the world's top prizes for genocide, with at least 30 to 50 years of rampant state sanctioned murder of their own people. In contrast, the Germans in about 10 years, the late 1930s and early 1940s, didn't kill that many of their own people: they killed everyone else's Jews, insane, and handicapped when they ran out of their own.

Turkey did pretty well in less than 5 years with those Armenians, mind you. And Rwanda did awesomely well in just three months.

The prizes are a bottle of f*!@#$% SCOTCH and a box of cheap f!@#$#$ CIGARS!

Too many people! Almost all of the world's problems are due to overpopulation. The rest are due to religion.

50% of the world's wild animals have disappeared in the last 50 years. Did you eat them, or eat their house?

I think it is already another Lebanon, except that it is not Christians vs Muslims. Other than that the body count suggests it is.

Problem is that no one has the balls to go in and sort the issue out. The UN is so impotent, that 50 000 tons of viagra could not get them up.

That idiot Annan acts all shocked that his peace plan is ignored. I could have saved them the airfare of sending him over.

The Arab league is only good for denouncing Israel. Other than that they are as useful as the proverbial tits on a bull.

Jesus Quintana: Let me tell you something, pendejo. You pull any of your crazy shit with us, you flash a piece out on the lanes, I'll take it away from you, stick it up your ass and pull the fucking trigger 'til it goes "click."The Dude: Jesus.Jesus Quintana: You said it, man. Nobody fucks with the Jesus.

Mr.Lahey: The shitabyss!Randy: Mr. Lahey, not another night of the shitabyss, please?!Mr.Lahey: Ah, fuck it.

If you talk to god, you're religious. If god talks to you, you're psychotic.Gregory House

Sweet. The butchers of Fallujah during Operation Phantom Fury in 2004, butchers of My Lai in 1968 and sponsors of the butchers of Gaza during Operation Cast Lead in 2008 and Lebanon in 2006 are going to sort out the butchers of Syria. There's not enough crocodile tears on earth to drown out the depraved hypocrisy of Yanks and their partners in crime, the Izzies.

"Freedom of Information. Three harmless words. I look at those words as I write them, and feel like shaking my head till it drops off my shoulders. You idiot. You naive, foolish, irresponsible nincompoop. There is really no description of stupidity, no matter how vivid, that is adequate. I quake at the imbecility of it."- Tony Blair describing his initial support for Britain's Freedom of Information Act

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